


You deserve more than what you have

by Multifandom_damnation



Series: Too rare to live, too young to die [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Billy Hargrove Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Good Parent Jim "Chief" Hopper, Neil Hargrove Being an Asshole, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21750508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Hopper's day is filled with unwanted guests and just trying to keep the peace, but when Susan decides to barge into his home and give Billy shit just because she can, Hopper decides that he's had more than enough of her bullshit, and he can only hope that she hasn't broken Billy beyond repair.The words that break him are "Maybe you deserve the way your father treats you" and Hopper has never been so angry in his whole fucking life.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield
Series: Too rare to live, too young to die [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1488953
Comments: 16
Kudos: 188





	You deserve more than what you have

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this! I'm really having fun with this series and while it's probably not the best, I'm really proud of it. Also, I never really thought that Susan was all that bad until I actually thought about it and realized that she really doesn't give a shit about Billy at all, so this is basically stemmed from the fact that Susan is just as bad as Neil. Anyway!!! Hope you enjoy!!

It was early morning, and it had been raining in a steady downpour all day, but that didn’t stop Neil Hargrove from barging into the police station in a heavy overcoat and a brown, wide-brimmed hat. “Officer, I’d like to report a kidnapping.”

“A kidnapping?” Callahan asked, both surprised and sceptical. “In Hawkins? We don’t get many of those anymore. The most serious thing we had in years was the missing person’s case for that Will Byers boy. Sorry, what do you need?”

Sighing, Hopper stood from behind his desk and exited his office to watch. Neil looked like he was about to blow a gasket. “A kidnapping. My son and my stepdaughter have both been kidnapped by the Chief of Police.”

The precinct went silent. Eventually, Callahan broke it by failing to hold back a snort. “I’m sorry, what? Old Jim Hopper? You’ve lost the plot, mate.”

Neil’s eyebrows drew together. “Are you calling me a liar?”

At this point, Hopper had enough, and he marched into the main office behind Neil. “Actually, Callahan, while we’re at it, I’d like to report a domestic abuse and child endangerment case. A case that's so severe that I’ve actually taken the children out of the home in fear for their safety. So the report that Mr Hargrove is trying to give you is just another way of his to spin misinformation to fit his narrative, so if you could, please escort Mr Hragrove out of my fucking precinct.”

Florence sided up next to him as they watched Callahan take a seething Neil by the arm and practically dragged him out of the precinct. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time, Hop?”

“Those kids aren’t safe,” Hopper told her. “I don’t want them to spend another second near him.”

“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” she said before walking away.

Billy was in the kitchen washing the dishes after making Max and El some lunch when Hopper finally arrived home from work later that day, and he hung his hat on the handstand near the door and kicked off his muddy boots. “Hey Billy,” Hopper greeted when he turned around and Billy nodded in acknowledgment. “Uh- your dad came by the station today. Tried to report you and Max as missing.”

The stiffening was obvious and his silence was immediate as Billy paused in the middle name drying his hands with the tea towel that usually hung over the stove with a blank, empty look in his eyes. “And did he?”

Hopper snorted as he moved further into the home. “Of course not. After all I’ve done to get you away from that asshole, there’s no way in hell that I’m going to let him get his greedy little paws on you or your sister ever again.”

Billy still didn’t look convinced, but he nodded anyway and threw the towel down on the kitchen counter before leaving silently and shutting the door shut to his bedroom.

Sighing, Hopper went to go say hello to the girls before waiting in the lounge with a beer for Steve’s arrival for their every-now-and-then game night.

The kids were all sitting on the ground by the TV with Monopoly up on the coffee table, and El had even been able to convince Billy to play this time, so all four of them were seated in a small circle around the low coffee table, clutching tight to the handful of money that they’d been given. Hopper watched TV over Steve’s head.

“I’m whopping your ass, Hargrove,” Steve laughed as he placed another little house on a blue square.

“Yeah,” Billy snorted as he passéd GO and took $200 from the bank. “Too bad you don’t have this kind of money management skills in real life, though.”

There was a sharp knock on the door, and the joyful attitude and laughter in the living room ceased. Hopper stood and cautiously walked to the door, and when he opened it, he was not expecting to be met by Susan Hargrove, holding a purse by her side, her perfectly kept hair ruined from the rain. Her immaculate dress was drenched in water and her matching heels were coated in mud. “Hello, Jim,” she said when Hopper didn’t speak and her smile was strained. “Can I come in?”

“Uh,” Hopper was in such shock that he didn’t get to say anything before she pushed her way past him and inside the house. “Wait, hold on-”

But he was too late. El was standing, eyes narrowed and fists clenched at her side. Billy was as stiff as a board, and Max looked at her mother, aghast, holding tight to Billy’s hand. Steve had only met her once before, but he disliked her from that one encounter, and he gave her a dirty look as she entered. “Mum!” Max exclaimed in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to talk to your brother,” Susan said, her voice sickly-sweet. “Would you mind giving us the room, dear?”

He had his back to Susan, but Billy still hadn’t moved, and Max looked at him in horror, gripping his hand tightly. Steve, who looked to Hopper with a question in his eyes waiting for Hopper’s nod, thankfully came to their rescue when he clambered to his feet with a grunt and stretched his arms above his head. “No worries. We were just leaving, anyway,”

Everyone looked at him in shock. “ _Steve_ ,” El hissed, agast, but she and Steve shared a look that must have had some silent meaning because her face was smoothing over and she pried a protesting Max away from Billy and said. “Let’s go, Max.”

Confused, Max allowed her to drag her out of the room and through the front door, staring fearfully at Billy the whole time, and Steve followed shortly after, once he swiped his keys from the kitchen counter, gave Billy a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder and offered a short nod to Hopper. Then, the three of them were alone in the living room, Hopper still a little confused, Billy crouched on the floor with his back to his stepmother and Susan looking entitled like the piece of shit she was.

“Would you... want anything to drink?” Hopper offered, but it wasn’t a genuine one. “Coffee? Beer? Spirits?”

“No, thank you,” Susan declined politely as if she could sense that Hopper wasn’t going to give her anything if she begged for it. It was bad enough that she had barged her way into his house. “Could I have a word with Billy, please? _Alone_?”

Hopper didn’t answer her right away, because he was too busy looking at Billy and the frightened look in his eyes, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, and for a moment, he met Hopper’s searching eyes. There was something glossy in them, almost like unshed tears, but he gave Hopper a slow, curt nod, and Hopper began to back away. “Uh, sure.”

He retreated to his bedroom- since Max and Billy had moved in with them, their living arrangements had changed slightly, but not too severely. Hopper still had the same room he always had, and so did El, but now El’s bed was a bunk bed that now housed two young girls and the spare room that Hopper had kept his overflow of junk had been converted into a rather small bedroom for an older teenager, but Billy hadn’t complained, even though it was a little bit cramped and the size of a shoebox.

Though Billy and Max had been living with them for a few months now, Hopper had never actually seen the inside of Billy’s room, but he’d never had a son before, or even a young man taking refuge in his house, so he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Billy, sweetheart, this is getting out of hand,” Susan was saying, voice too high and too fake and very obviously not genuine at all. “You really must stop all this.”

Billy scoffed, and it was a gritty, guttural sound. “’ Sweetheart’? You’re only nice to me when you need something from me. What do you want? Did _he_ send you to do his dirty work so he didn’t have to?”

Sighing, Susan’s high-heels clicked on the floorboards for a short moment before they stopped, and Hopper could just imagine the glare Billy sent her, eyes bright with fire. “Billy, please, stop being so difficult. You know your father wants you to come home. I know you’ve gone off for some reason but there was really no need for you to take Max with you.”

“I didn’t take Max anywhere,” Billy snapped. “She came with me, willingly. It was _her_ decision.”

Susan was quiet for a moment. Hopper thought she was pursing her lips. “Well, either way, I still don’t see what point you’re trying to make. Moving in with the Chief of Police, Billy? Spending time with him on your days off? Babysitting his daughter? Letting him pick you up and drop you off at work? People are starting to talk. It’s not a nice look for us.”

“Yeah, of course not,” Billy’s voice was dark. “Can’t let anything happen to your pristine public image. What would the people do if they found out what you really are?”

Offended, Susan bristled. “What are you talking about, Billy? I don’t know why you’re so angry but don’t you take it out on me.”

The heavy footsteps of Billy’s boots were unmistakable as he paced around the coffee table towards Susan. Hopper couldn’t hear her heels moving at all, so he assumed that she was foolishly standing her ground. “Oh, please,” Billy barked out a laugh. “You’re just as bad as he is. You may not actually do anything, but you just sit there and watch and let him get away with it. Is that really what you want to teach your daughter? That she deserves the punishment of any man just because they’re hot and have a nice load in their pants?”

“Don’t you dare speak about Maxine like that,” Susan’s voice was low, and Hopper winced from behind the door.

“ _Please_ , even when I hated her guts, I took better care of her than you ever did,” Unlike Susan’s, Billy’s voice was like an explosion, and just as heated. Sharp. “So don’t you pretend as if you’ve ever done anything for her since you gave birth to her. I’ve done everything for her and at the best of times I can’t even stand her.”

“ _Billy_ -”

“You can’t just stand for a second that I’m happy, can you? You can’t cope with the fact that Neil can’t push me around and get me to do whatever he wants. You can’t survive without you’re perfect little pet, huh? You’ve got no one to push around? Has he taken his temper out on you yet? He will. Is that why you’re desperate for me to come back? Because you’re afraid of what the bruises he gives you would look for your spotless public image?” Hopper had never heard Billy rant like he was, and knew, regretfully, that at this point Billy was saying hurtful things for the pure purpose of hurting. “God forbid any of the other mindless mothers at the book club know that you don’t have such a happy family after all.”

There was a stiff pause, and even Hopper, hidden behind the solace of the door, held his breath. “Well, Billy,” Susan said, voice dripping in venom. “Sometimes, it’s no wonder that your father treats you the way he does.”

Hopper was pushing open the door and shoving himself into the room before Susan had even finished speaking. “Right, alright, that’s enough. Get the fuck out of my house, _now_.”

He dragged her, protesting and spluttering, out the front door and into the pouring rain before she had the chance to change his mind- as if she could, anyway- and he slammed it in her face before he turned to Billy.

Billy was standing in the centre of the room, absolutely seething, his fists clenched so hard at his sides that his nails were leaving half-moon indents into his palms, his eyes dark and stormy like the clouds overhead. His head was down and his hair partially covered his face, but Hopper had known him long enough now to know when he was furious.

“Billy,” Hopper tried. He tried to say it how he would say it to El when she was having one of her psychic rages, but Billy wasn’t El, and he was a little bit out of his depth. “What do you need?”

“I...I...” Billy was so angry that he couldn’t even get the words out, which Hopper understood.

“Go for a drive,” Hopper finished for him. Billy looked up at him through his hair. “Come back when you’re ready. Just be careful with the wet roads and don’t do anything stupid.”

He had barely moved away from the door before Billy shot past him, shoving the door open and storming down the steps of the veranda and leaping in his car. Hopper slowly shut the door just as the Camaro roared to life and the tires squealed out of the driveway and took off down the road.

Hopper had barely sat down in his recliner in front of the TV, the Monopoly game abandoned when his front door opened like it had been slammed by a tornado. At first, Hopper though that it actually was a tornado, but then he heard sobbing and growling and a shock of red hair, and then the door to the girls shared bedroom opened and shut with a slam. Soon, Steve entered, looking harried, his hair a mess. “We know what happened,” Steve said before Hopper could say anything. “We didn’t actually go anywhere, we drove around the corner and El used one of Robin’s ugly scarves to watch. What a bitch.”

“I’m going to give him time to cool off,” Hopper said “He knows by now to be home before I wake up for work tomorrow, so I’m not too worried. He can take care of himself if he needs to.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Before you wake up tomorrow? That’s his curfew?”

Shrugging, Hopper turned back to the TV. “I’ve never had to take care of any kind of man, and least of all one who I don’t even really know other than that he used to be a bully, is often abused by his father and was possessed by a demon from the abyss. He’s a grown man. I’m not going to tell him to be home by dinner. Who the hell do you think I am?”

“You were a lot stricter with El,” Steve said as he knelt down to pack up the discarded Monopoly board. “I’m a little surprised that Billy doesn’t have an exact time to be home or anything.”

Hopper didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. “I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen tonight,” he said instead. “If I have to go out, can you say with the girls?”

Standing, Steve held the monopoly box under his arm. “Just lend me the couch and I’m golden.”

* * *

The sun had just started to set, though it was hard to tell by the thick, heavy storm clouds that still hung low over Hawkins, but it was late regardless, and Hopper was getting worried. Billy hadn’t returned since he’d driven off that afternoon, and Hopper had seen him, had seen the fury working its way through his veins. That was only a recipe for disaster.

“Steve,” Hopper said and Steve looked up over the neck of his beer bottle. “Billy’s not back yet. I think I’m going to go and look for him.”

“No worries, Hop,” Steve saluted him with his half-empty bottle. “I’ll hold down the fort.”

At that, Hopper grabbed his coat and hat from where he had hung them by the door, swiped the keys off the counter and gingerly slid into the driver's seat of the police cruiser. It was pelting down freezing rain, and Hopper winced, remembering that Billy hadn’t even brought a jacket with him when he left.

With the sirens and lights on, Hopper drove around town a little bit, careful to stay away from the street that housed Neil and Susan. No matter how angry Billy was, Hopper knew that he would never go back there if he could help it. So he drove, and he drove, for what seemed like hours, but still, he couldn’t find any sign of Billy.

He parked on the side of the road and turned off the sirens, trying to think of all the places that Billy could possibly go. He didn’t have that hideout like the kids did, or the skate park like Max, or the mall like normal kids. He didn’t have a secret spot he went to when he needed to be alone.

But then Hopper remembered the bad nights, where Billy would scream himself hoarse, lost in a nightmare that was drenched in memory, his limbs tangled in the sheets, his head banging hard against the wall, choking on spit and gasping for air like a drowning, Max coming out of her shared room and slowly entering the darkness, the sound becoming a wall of noise, and then Billy’s loud screaming suddenly stopping and was replaced by heavy panting and Max’s low voice, cooing and soothing and sweet.

“No way,” Hopper muttered to himself as he turned the ignition back on and pulled back onto the road. “He wouldn’t, he wouldn’t.”

Fearful, Hopper made his way towards the abandoned Brimborn Steel Mill.

It was pelting down much harder by the time Hopper pulled into the steel mill, and he got out of his car with little hope, but then he saw the Camaro parked in the middle and a figure leaning against it, soaked to the bone.

Quickly, Hopper rushed over, and sure enough, Billy was standing there in nothing but a thin tee-shirt and jeans, his hands in his pockets, his hair plastered to his scalp, his eyes dead and sunken, lips twisted into a scowl, face blank. “Billy?” Hopper had to shout over the roaring wind and the rain impacting loudly on the tin roof of the building and the hood of Billy’s car. “What the hell are you doing out here? Can’t you see it’s raining cats and dogs?”

“Is she right?” Billy said back, and Hopper wasn’t expecting that. “Do I really deserve it? Am I really not good enough?”

Hopper felt his heart in his throat. “No Billy, of course not. She was just saying that to get to you. Nobody deserves that, least of all you.”

Slowly, Billy finally looked at him, and Hopper felt like he was going to topple over- Billy’s eyes were red like he’d been crying, there were long red marks on his arms as if he’d been clawing at himself, his skin was pale from being out in the cold for so long, and his eyes were... dead, was the best way for Hopper to describe them. Empty. “Then why do I feel like such a fucking asshole?”

“Billy,” Hopper sighed. Billy turned away again and went back to staring daggers into the sodden earth. “It’s not your fault. You’re allowed to feel like that, but let me tell you, that’s how they want you to feel. That’s how they’ve been able to use you for so long. Because they know how to get to you.”

Sniffling, Billy pulled one hand out of his pocket to wipe at his nose, which made it obvious to Hopper that he was either getting sick from being outside in the rain for hours or that he definitely had been crying. “I almost left, you know,” Billy said unexpectantly. “I was halfway past the city borders before I decided to turn around. I almost went back to California. But I... I couldn’t leave Max. I couldn’t leave her alone. I couldn’t... I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“You’re a good brother, Billy,” Hopper said as he leant against the Camaro. “Amongst a great many other things.”

Billy didn’t answer.

Hopper didn’t know what to do. When Sara was going through chemo, he would wrap her in blankets and hold her to his chest while she cried. When El was having a meltdown that she couldn’t understand, Hopper would grab her and hold her tightly and comb his fingers through her hair until the tears stopped and she fell asleep against him. Even when Joyce lost Will and Bob and everyone else she cared about, Hopper had let her come to him, and then he wrapped his arms around her loosely, giving her the opportunity to pull away, and he would let her fist her hands into his shirt and cry against his shoulder and only when she calmed down would he hold her tighter.

But Billy wasn’t any of them. He wasn’t Sara or El or Joyce, and Hopper had no idea what do to. He’d never had a son before, and he’d never had to comfort anyone like Billy.

Winging it, Hopper slid across the wet surface of the Camaro so he was right next to Billy, and he lifted an arm to wrap it comfortingly around his shoulders. Billy tensed, and at first, Hopper thought he had made a mistake, but when Billy slowly started to relax, Hopper did too.

They didn’t say anything for a very long time, not until Hopper became aware of Billy’s shivering, and only then did he squeeze Billy’s shoulder. “Do you want to go home now?” He asked and Billy nodded. When he turned to open the front door of the Camaro, Hopper grabbed him and pulled him back. “Nah, don’t take your car. Lock it up and I’ll bring you back for it tomorrow. You don’t want to get those nice seats all wet.”

He led them to his cruiser, not too far away, and managed to convince Billy to get into the passenger seat without too much trouble. When the doors were shut, Hopper tossed Billy a blanket he had in the back from when El would take naps, and cranked the heater up to full. “I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve been in a police cruiser without being in trouble, huh?”

The joke didn’t really land, but Billy’s lips turned up a bit at the corners. Hopper knew that Billy didn’t want to talk about it, and would much, much rather be alone than be next to him in a confined space, but Hopper really didn’t think that was such a good idea, so he broke the silence with another joke before Billy’s thoughts turned deadly. “Hey, I just realized, I never told you the look on Neil’s face when he stormed into the station and I ratted him out of domestic abuse and child endangerment...”

Hopper drove slowly, and by the time the cabin finally came into view, the rain had stopped pouring and Billy’s eyes were starting to drop shut in exhaustion.

He managed to half-carry a stumbling Billy through the front door and let him walk himself to his bedroom so Hopper didn’t invade his space, but though Billy didn’t say anything, the way he lingered a little longer at Hoppers touch meant that he was thankful even though he didn’t want to say it. Hopper waited until the door closed before he walked away.

Steve wasn’t on the couch like he promised he would be, which momentarily upset him until he heard the loud snoring coming from the direction of the girl's room- a room in which neither of them snored.

Suspiciously, Hopper slowly pushed open the girl's bedroom door to see them sleeping on the floor, leaning on either side of Steve who had his arms wrapped around them, his nailed baseball bat at his feet, drool dripping down his chin and his head leaning back against the lowest bunk. Apparently, Steve hadn’t made it to the couch, and Hopper covered them all with a blanket before backing out of the room and leaving them be.

He called work to let them know that he wouldn’t be coming in for his shift- _family emergency_ \- and Florence sounded like she knew what he was talking about without him even saying the words, and then he sat on the couch with a cold beer in his soaking wet clothes and waited for someone to wake up. He was prepared to wait all night.

Because that’s the kind of things you sacrifice for family.

**Author's Note:**

> I. HATE. NEIL. AND. SUSAN. IS. A. BITCH. TOO.


End file.
